Hitherto, a vulcanized foam of chloroprene rubber has been used as the material of wetsuits because of the softness and shape-keepability thereof. However, about the chloroprene vulcanized foam, the softness for functioning as a rubber is lost at low temperatures by the crystallization of chloroprene rubber, so that there remains a problem that a touch sense (feel) important for wetsuits is insufficient (see Patent Document 1).
In recent years, needs for fashioning performance have been heightening; thus, great needs for bright-color wetsuits alternative to conventional black wetsuits have been existing. A method adopted for producing a bright-color wetsuit is a method of bonding a bright fiber onto the front surface of a conventional black chloroprene vulcanized foam. However, in the case of bonding a bright-color fiber onto the front surface of a black chloroprene vulcanized foam, the black color of the black chloroprene vulcanized foam, which is an underlaid material, comes out when the wetsuit gets wet. As a result, the design performance thereof is damaged. However, in the case of using a white chloroprene vulcanized foam as an underlaid material, the wetsuit is insufficient in weather resistance. Thus, the wetsuit yellows under sunshine to cause a problem that the design performance thereof is damaged.
In the meantime, as a raw-material rubber excellent in weather resistance, known is butyl rubber (IIR), ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM), or chlorosulfonated polyethylene (CSM). However, the rubber cannot be used in the field of wetsuits since the rubber is poor in adhesive property onto jersey cloth.